33·Legends

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DR Congo

The thirty-three greatest. Build your eleven, then settle the duels.

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The 33 of DR Congo

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1 PN 88 Pierre Ndaye Mulamba AS Bantous, Association Sportive Vita Club · Hall of FameTwo days after the 1974 final finished 2-2, Mulamba scored both goals in the Cairo replay to beat Zambia, watched by roughly a thousand people, having already scored twice in the first match. His nine goals at that tournament are still the record for a single Africa Cup of Nations, which Zaire won that year; he added the 1973 African Cup of Champions Clubs with AS Vita Club and six Zairean league titles. ST1973–74

2 PB 85 Paul Bonga Bonga Daring Club Motema Pembe, Standard LiègeIn 1961 World Soccer picked him for its world XI beside Pelé, Di Stéfano and Puskás, the first African ever chosen, and a year later he became the first non-naturalised African to play a European Cup semi-final when Standard Liège met Real Madrid. Three Belgian championships at Standard between 1958 and 1963, runner-up for the 1960 Golden Shoe, and later technical director of Congo's national team. CM1958–63

3 TM 85 Trésor Mputu TP Mazembe, Kabuscorp S.C.Banned for twelve months over his conduct towards a referee in August 2010, he came back and scored inside 46 seconds. CAF Champions League winner with TP Mazembe in 2009 and 2010, top scorer of that competition in 2007 with nine goals, player of the tournament at the 2009 African Nations Championship, Africa's best home-based player the same year, and 155 goals in 360 appearances for Mazembe. CAM2007–10

4 BT 84 Bwanga Tshimen TP MazembeThe French and African press of the early 1970s called him the Black Beckenbauer, and in 1973 he became one of the rare defenders voted African Footballer of the Year. He won the 1974 Africa Cup of Nations with Zaire, wore number 4 at that summer's World Cup in West Germany, gave sixteen seasons to TP Mazembe, and was later named DR Congo's player of the century by IFFHS. CB1973–74

5 CM 84 Chancel Mbemba R.S.C. Anderlecht, Newcastle UnitedHe marked his hundredth cap on 13 November 2025 with a stoppage-time winner against Cameroon, and three days later DR Congo beat Nigeria on penalties and were on their way to a first World Cup since 1974. Record holder with 113 caps, best XI at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, two Primeira Liga titles and two cups at Porto, a Belgian championship with Anderlecht, and the 2023 Marc-Vivien Foé prize. CB1974–2025

6 KM 84 Kazadi Mwamba TP MazembeHe was voted player of the tournament at the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations, an award a goalkeeper almost never wins, the same January his country beat Ghana 1-0 in the Addis Ababa final. Two Africa Cup of Nations titles, in 1968 and 1974, two African Cup of Champions Clubs with TP Mazembe in 1967 and 1968, three Congolese championships, 40 caps, and the gloves for Zaire in 1974, the first sub-Saharan African team at a World Cup. GK1967–74

7 KU 84 Kembo Uba Kembo Association Sportive Vita ClubSix of Zaire's goals on the road to the 1974 World Cup were his, two of them in the 3-0 defeat of Morocco that finally settled qualification. Kembo won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, in 1968 and again in 1974, lifted the African Cup of Champions Clubs with AS Vita Club in 1973, took six Zairean league titles, and played at the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany. LM1968–74

8 SN 84 Shabani Nonda 49 caps · 32 goals · FC Zürich, Stade RennaisTwenty-six goals in 2002-03 made him Ligue 1's top scorer, and even after the knee injury that cost him most of the next season he came off the bench in the 64th minute of the 2004 Champions League final, Monaco already losing to Porto. European runner-up that night, French League Cup winner in 2003, Süper Lig champion with Galatasaray in 2008, and 20 goals in 36 caps for DR Congo. ST2002–08

9 MK 83 Mafu Kibonge 24 caps · 0 goals · Daring Club Motema Pembe, Association Sportive Vita ClubKinshasa saw Pelé twice in 1967, when Santos came to play two friendlies, and he was on the pitch for both. Champion of Africa with Congo-Kinshasa in 1968, present at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments between 1965 and 1974, 24 caps in nine years of international football, and shirt number 15 in Zaire's squad at the 1974 World Cup. CAM1965–74

10 MM 83 Mayanga Maku Association Sportive Vita ClubGood Year was the nickname he carried at AS Vita Club, and he earned it at the 1974 Nations Cup with two goals in Zaire's 4-1 win over Mauritius. Zaire won that title with Mayanga in the team of the tournament, as in 1972, and he went to the 1974 World Cup a year after lifting the African Cup of Champions Clubs with Vita. LM1968–1976

11 NK 83 Ntumba Kalala Association Sportive Vita ClubOn 27 February 1972 he scored in the sixteenth minute and again in the fifty-ninth as Zaire beat Congo 2-0 at the Africa Cup of Nations, and the nickname tata mapassa, father of twins, followed him from then on. He finished that tournament on three goals, won the African Cup of Champions Clubs with AS Vita Club in 1973, and played at the 1974 World Cup, twenty caps and seven goals for Zaire in all. CM1972–74

82 Dieumerci Mbokani 35 caps · 16 goals · TP Mazembe, Standard LiègeCongo led 2-0 in the 2015 quarter-final until he pulled one back on 65 minutes and sealed a 4-2 turnaround a minute into stoppage time. Joint top scorer at that tournament and third place with the Leopards, the country's record scorer with 22 goals in 49 caps, the 2012 Belgian Golden Shoe, five Belgian championships with Anderlecht and Standard Liège, and a Ukrainian title with Dynamo Kyiv. ST2012–15

82 Julien Kialunda 5 caps · Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, R.S.C. AnderlechtAnderlecht signed him in 1965 and took the Belgian title in each of his first three seasons, part of 123 league matches he played there across eight years. Four Belgian championships, in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1972, two Belgian Cups in 1972 and 1973, a League Cup in 1973, a Fairs Cup final lost to Arsenal in 1970, and five caps for Zaire, every one of them at the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations, where the team finished fourth. CB1965–73

14 KE 82 Kakoko Etepé 31 caps · 9 goals · Daring Club Motema Pembe, VfB StuttgartThirteen seasons with Imana Kinshasa made him a fixture in the Léopards attack, and he scored in the 4-1 win over Mauritius at Damanhour that launched Zaire's 1974 campaign. Zaire took the Africa Cup of Nations that year with Kakoko in the team of the tournament, then became the first sub-Saharan side at a World Cup, and he had already finished fourth in the 1973 African Footballer of the Year vote. ST1972–1980

82 Lomana LuaLua 31 caps · 7 goals · Colchester United, Newcastle UnitedHis celebration ran to seven backflips and a somersault, and in 2006 it cost him a damaged foot against Arsenal; two years earlier, on loan at Portsmouth, he scored against his parent club Newcastle and the FA rewrote the loan rules because of it. LuaLua won the Greek league with Olympiacos in 2008 and the Cypriot Cup with Omonia in 2011 and captained DR Congo at the 2004 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations across 31 caps. SS2004–11

16 PK 82 Pierre Kalala Mukendi TP MazembeGhana were the opponents in Addis Ababa on 21 January 1968, and 66 minutes in he scored the only goal of the final that made Congo-Kinshasa African champions for the first time. Back-to-back African Cup of Champions Clubs with TP Englebert in 1967 and 1968, two more continental finals lost in 1969 and 1970, three Congolese championships, and the 1980 African Cup Winners' Cup back at the same club as coach. SS1967–80

17 YM 82 Youssouf Mulumbu Paris Saint-Germain, Amiens SCParis Saint-Germain took him in at thirteen and let him go to West Bromwich Albion for £175,000 in July 2009, and he played 191 league games there, winning both the club and the supporters' player of the year awards in 2011. Bronze at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations with the armband on, captain again in 2017, 45 caps for DR Congo, and 15 league goals from in front of the West Brom defence. CDM2009–17

81 Cédric Bakambu 38 caps · 13 goals · Rayo Vallecano, Villarreal CFIn January 2018 Beijing Guoan paid the €40 million release clause in his Villarreal contract, and he left China four years later as the club's all-time leading scorer with 48 goals. Bakambu has 21 goals in 73 caps for DR Congo, won the Turkish title with Galatasaray in 2024 and the Chinese FA Cup in 2018, reached the 2025 Conference League final with Real Betis, and finished top scorer in both the Chinese and Greek leagues. ST2018–25

81 Hérita Ilunga 32 caps · AS Saint-Étienne, ToulouseCairo, 1 June 2008: the only goal of his 32 games for DR Congo, a World Cup qualifier in the city where Egypt had ended the Leopards' Africa Cup two years earlier. Vice-captain behind Shabani Nonda, quarter-finalist at the 2006 tournament, Ligue 2 team of the year in 2003-04, 152 matches for Saint-Étienne and four seasons in the Premier League with West Ham. LB2003–08

81 Robert Kidiaba 61 caps · AS Saint-Luc, TP MazembeAfter wins he dropped onto his backside and bounced around his six-yard box, and there was never a better reason than 14 December 2010, when TP Mazembe beat Internacional 2-0 in Abu Dhabi. That win carried Mazembe into the Club World Cup final, the first club from outside Europe and South America to reach one, where Internazionale won 3-0, and then bronze at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, eight Congolese league titles and 681 games for the club. GK2010–15

81 Yannick Bolasie Floriana, Plymouth ArgyleAt the Stadium of Light on 11 April 2015 he scored three times in eleven minutes as Crystal Palace beat Sunderland 4-1, the first Palace player ever to take a Premier League hat-trick. Bolasie went to Everton for around £25 million the following year, finished third with DR Congo at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and made the team of that tournament, and won the Championship play-off final in 2013. LM2013–15

80 Arthur Masuaku Valenciennes, OlympiacosTwo moments carry his name: the mishit cross that beat Édouard Mendy at his near post to sink Chelsea in December 2021, and the free kick against Guinea on 2 February 2024 that sent DR Congo into their first Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in nine years. Two Greek championships and a cup with Olympiacos, the Turkish Cup and Super Cup at Beşiktaş, 49 caps, and a place in the 2026 World Cup squad. LB2021–26

80 Cédric Makiadi VfL Wolfsburg, SC FreiburgFreiburg trusted him with 129 Bundesliga appearances between 2009 and 2013, the four seasons that carried the club from newly promoted side to Europa League qualification, and he added twelve goals from central midfield. Third place with DR Congo at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations was his tournament peak, reached across an international decade that began against Ethiopia in June 2007, with Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen and Rizespor either side of the Freiburg years. CM2007–15

80 Gaël Kakuta SBV Vitesse, Dijon FCOOn 15 February 2020 he put Amiens two goals up on Paris Saint-Germain inside half an hour, and the Licorne finished the night on a 4-4 draw. DR Congo took him to the 2026 World Cup, their first since 1974, after the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize as Ligue 1's best African player in 2020-21 and eleven goals on loan at Lens, and he had won the 2010 European Under-19 title with France as its Golden Player. RM1974–2026

25 NK 80 Neeskens Kebano Paris Saint-Germain, Stade Malherbe CaenHis father named him after Johan Neeskens, and on 27 July 2020 he honoured the debt with a free kick curled past Cardiff City in the Championship play-off semi-final, one of 21 goals he scored for Fulham. Promotion came through that play-off, then the Championship title in 2021-22, the UAE League Cup with Al-Jazira in 2024-25, Belgium's Ebony Shoe in 2015, and 35 caps for DR Congo across the 2015 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. CAM2015–24

26 IM 79 Issama Mpeko Daring Club Motema Pembe, Association Sportive Vita ClubEight seasons at TP Mazembe brought 248 matches and 13 goals from right-back, the kind of tally that only comes to a full-back nobody wants to drop. He won back-to-back CAF Confederation Cups in 2016 and 2017 plus the 2016 CAF Super Cup with Mazembe, added Linafoot titles, and took third place with DR Congo at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations across 81 caps and four tournaments. RB2015–17

27 MT 79 Marcel Tisserand The armband was on his sleeve when DR Congo met hosts Egypt at the 2019 Cup of Nations, a tournament he started in every round before Madagascar knocked the Leopards out in the last sixteen. Thirty-six caps took in the 2017 quarter-final run in Gabon, and the club years ran from Monaco through Ingolstadt and Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga to three seasons at Fenerbahçe, two in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq, and a late move to Sydney FC. CB2017–19

79 Meschak Elia Kigali, 7 February 2016: he left the African Nations Championship as its best player and joint top scorer on four goals, DR Congo having beaten Mali 3-1 in the final at the Amahoro Stadium. That title sits alongside three Swiss championships and two Swiss Cups at Young Boys, back-to-back CAF Confederation Cups with TP Mazembe in 2016 and 2017, two Linafoot titles, the Swiss Super League player of the year award in 2023, and 71 caps for DR Congo. RM2016–23

78 Gabriel Zakuani Leyton Orient, Peterborough UnitedIn January 2006 he helped Leyton Orient knock Premier League Fulham out of the FA Cup, and Fulham signed him that summer. Third place with DR Congo at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations topped 29 caps and three tournaments, and at Peterborough he won the 2011 League One play-off final 3-0 against Huddersfield at Old Trafford, captained the club from 2012 and passed 200 appearances. CB2006–15

30 JK 78 Joël Kimwaki Daring Club Motema Pembe, TP MazembeTwo down to Congo in the Cup of Nations quarter-final on 31 January 2015, DR Congo pulled level, and on eighty-one minutes he met a free kick and headed them 3-2 ahead in a 4-2 win. Two CAF Champions League titles came with TP Mazembe in 2010 and 2015, plus the 2017 Confederation Cup, two African Nations Championships, third place at the 2015 Cup of Nations, and a start in the 2010 Club World Cup final against Inter. CB2010–17

78 Samuel Moutoussamy Olympique Lyonnais, FC NantesAt the Stade de France on 7 May 2022 he started in central midfield as Nantes beat Nice 1-0 and won a Coupe de France the club had waited twenty-two years for. That cup is his only club trophy, taken from 144 Ligue 1 appearances for Nantes, and for DR Congo he has 62 caps, a fourth place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and a place in the 2026 World Cup squad. CM2022–26

32 LM 77 Ley Matampi Association Sportive Vita ClubHe ended the 2016 African Nations Championship as its best goalkeeper, the tournament DR Congo won by beating Mali 3-0 in the Kigali final on 7 February. That CHAN title is the biggest of his honours, followed by Linafoot championships with TP Mazembe in 2012 and 2013, a CAF Confederation Cup runners-up medal in 2013, and 42 caps between 2010 and 2021 taking in the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. GK2010–21

33 LB 77 Lobilo Boba Association Sportive Vita ClubNumber 5 on his back, he started all three of Zaire's matches at the 1974 World Cup, the first reached by a sub-Saharan African side, and stood in the back line that conceded nine to Yugoslavia on 18 June. Three months earlier Zaire had won the Cup of Nations in Cairo, beating Zambia in a replayed final with him in the team of the tournament, and AS Vita Club took the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1973. RB1973–74

About this XI

Pierre Ndaye Mulamba tops DR Congo's all-time pool, ahead of Paul Bonga Bonga and Trésor Mputu. The 33 covers 3 goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 13 midfielders and 7 forwards. Pierre Ndaye Mulamba leads the pool at 88 overall. Pick a formation, drag your eleven onto the pitch, then settle the duels below. Your votes reorder the people's ranking of these 33 in real time.

Left out, and why

A 33 is a set of decisions, and these are the players who lost their place in the last revision of DR Congo's list. Every one of them has a case.

Distel ZolaRated 77 in the almanac. The place went to Kakoko Etepé.
Edo KayembeRated 77 in the almanac. The place went to Mayanga Maku.

Disagree? That is the point. Settle it in the duels above.

Who is the greatest DR Congo footballer of all time?

In the 33 Legends editorial ranking, Pierre Ndaye Mulamba leads DR Congo with an overall rating of 88. The editorial top five: Pierre Ndaye Mulamba, Paul Bonga Bonga, Trésor Mputu, Bwanga Tshimen, Chancel Mbemba. The people's ranking on this page moves with every duel vote and can disagree.

How were these 33 DR Congo players chosen?

The pool covers every position across DR Congo's football history. Ratings weigh peak level, longevity, honours and historical standing, then the full methodology page explains the tiers. Fan votes in the duels build a second, independent ranking.

Which DR Congo players reach the Immortal tier or higher?

None yet. Pierre Ndaye Mulamba leads the DR Congo pool at 88, in the Legend tier.

Can I build and share my own DR Congo all-time XI?

Yes. Pick one of eight formations, drag any of the 33 onto the pitch, and export your lineup as a PNG. There is no account and no sign-up.